As we get ready to get under the CAP, which is being officially reported at 133 Mil for 2014, the Cowboys have to make some roster and contract moves.

Here are our options:

1. Cut / Waive: Out right release the player from their contract, thereby excellerating any prorated guaranteed money into this years CAP

2. Cut / Waive with post June 1st Designation: Only 2 players can be designated as a post June 1st cut. This takes the current 2014 Bonus money and adds it towards the CAP the salary is dropped. The remainder of the prorated guaranteed money is excellerated to 2015 League Year

3. Contract Restructure: This is where we take some sort of money in players contract (usually salary) and convert it into a signing bonus (or other bonus) where it is now guaranteed and is prorated over a certain number of years.

4. Contract reduction: This is where we get a player to reduce the amount of Salary. Basically they agree to tear up the old contract and rewrite a new one. However, the remainder of the prorated bonus of the old contract excellerates into the new contract length.

The Dallas Cowboys will release reserve center Phil Costa, according to a source, in another move to free up salary cap space as the club works to get under the cap by the start of the new league year March 11.

Certainly not likely to draw much ire, and $1.5M savings isn't nothing. Still, Costa was a competent backup on a team largely devoid of depth. Maybe they keep Cook? Draft a guard and demote Berny?_________________

Yup...i think they demote Bernie and ask him to take a pay cut and look for a HIGH OG pick...im talking 1st or 2nd round...and because of the extra cash look for a vet DT...either Hatch or Melton so Dallas can actually use the 16th pick in round one on BPA...OG WR TE QB LB...and not draft on need at DL or S.

Is free agency a sole and proper way to fix your franchise? Of course, not. But, to argue that they wouldn't want so sign Henry Melton or TJ Ward anyway is just stupid. This team is over the cap worse than anyone in the entire league and for the media to advocate on the behalf of this poor strategy smacks of homerism of the highest order. Let's at least recognize that the Cowboys bet hard on this group of vets as the nucleus for a contender and after 4 years of 8 wins or less in a row, it is very difficult to say that this strategy has been anything short of failure.

They put big extensions on Tony Romo (6/$108m), Jason Witten (5/$37m), Miles Austin (7/$54m), Jay Ratliff (7/$48m), and DeMarcus Ware (7/$78m) over the last several years and if you were honest with yourself, you would have to conclude that it was not close to the return on the investment to the point that Ratliff has been dismissed, Austin will never play another down here, and the clock on the other 3 is expiring rather quickly, it would seem.

but the Ware run looks like we are at the end of the road now. With a cap number of $16m or just half of that in dead money if they say goodbye (which can then be teased into 2 years of $4m each as a June 1 cut), it now looks like the Cowboys have very little reason to keep going since his productivity has been less than elite recently.

As one Cowboys official told me, we never are able to say goodbye to our favorites before it is too late. That is why he thought ultimately, Jerry would take the easier way out and redo DeMarcus yet again and delay the inevitable for one more year. But, it appears, finally, that Stephen and Jerry have realized that with Sean Lee's new deal done and with Tyron Smith, Dez Bryant, and DeMarco Murray due, it is time to make sure we don't lose a young asset because we couldn't say goodbye to an aging player._________________Northland

Whether or not Murray is a "young asset" is debateable. But I would hope that we could all agree that finding ways to identify and lock up our younger players is a better strategy than restructuring declining vets who provide declining ROI's.

Loyalty is a wonderful, admirable quality, but in a football GM it can be destructive.

The Ware situation is such a symbolic one in my opinion. If we find a way to massage the cap and retain him, it states to me that nothing has changed in our personnel philosophy. If we walk away from him, as painful as that may be, it will say to me that we have turned a page and moved away from building the loyalty based roster. Short term we may take a step backward but long term I would feel better with a this is a business approach to building the roster._________________Northland

The Dallas Cowboys will release reserve center Phil Costa, according to a source, in another move to free up salary cap space as the club works to get under the cap by the start of the new league year March 11.

The Dallas Cowboys will release reserve center Phil Costa, according to a source, in another move to free up salary cap space as the club works to get under the cap by the start of the new league year March 11.

Certainly not likely to draw much ire, and $1.5M savings isn't nothing. Still, Costa was a competent backup on a team largely devoid of depth. Maybe they keep Cook? Draft a guard and demote Berny?

Good. Costa sucked.

Hey Plan remember when it was argued that Costa, Kowalski, Nagy, and Arkin were the future of our OL? Some guys have limited ceilings talent wise and Costa is/was one of those guys. Not sorry to see him go._________________Northland

Phil Costa may have been my single most hated player on this team. Happy days are here, as he is now as extinct as his equally short armed cousins. Good bye, good luck, and good riddance.

That Costa, Nagy, Kowalski line was one of the single biggest blemishes on Jerry's record as GM. I'd say it was a bigger blunder than Galloway. At least Galloway can be semi blamed on bad luck and one bad drunk dial to a fellow GM; to get a line that bad, you've got to be making bad decisions for a while. Like kid with ADHD smoking meth bad._________________

The Dallas Cowboys will release reserve center Phil Costa, according to a source, in another move to free up salary cap space as the club works to get under the cap by the start of the new league year March 11.

The prudent GM would use that extra cap space to avoid a restructure or two...but not us. We'll use that additional cap space to spend sign Hatcher or Spencer to a long term deal. That's just what we do.

The prudent GM would use that extra cap space to avoid a restructure or two...but not us. We'll use that additional cap space to spend sign Hatcher or Spencer to a long term deal. That's just what we do.

We're like a kid in a candy store. Money burning a hole in the pocket. We'll find a way to make bad business decisions with any cap room we create.